The present invention relates generally to the composition of books, and more specifically to the construction of lift-the-flap board books and the four color printing of such books.
Standard “board books” are composed of multiple “leaves”, or pages. A single leaf is comprised of two pages front and back. Each leaf is formed by gluing two pieces of “board” together. The board is either a gray or white board, and typically weighs between 350 and 500 grams per square meter. The white board, also known as art board, is paperboard made with expensive, bleached wood or other fibers. White board is completely coated on at least one side. However, the uncoated side can be printed on due to the high quality of the expensive bleached fibers used to make the white board and the fact that the white color more readily accepts other colors of ink. Grayback board is paperboard made with cheaper, non-bleached wood, or other fibers. Grayback board is usually coated only on one side which allows accurate and effective printing on that one coated side. However, the uncoated side does not readily accept ink and cannot be printed upon due to the rough surface and gray color which obscures and masks the traditional four color printing process.
For standard board books, only the coated side of the white board or grayback board has been printed on. An improvement of the standard board book is called a “lift-the-flap”, “lift-a-flap”, or just “flap book”. The flap book has been developed and used extensively by multiple publishers in the last few decades. This improved board book is especially geared toward children and facilitates their learning process by more effectively posing a test/question/picture to the child and then revealing the answer under the flap. This product format is particularly useful for developing important skills such as opposites, colors, numbers, math, and peek-a-boo concepts.
The flap book utilizes the same general construction as a standard book board with a few changes. There are two ways to make a flap book. The first is to make three sided die cuts into one of the two pieces of the board that are glued together. This cut creates the flap and allows the flap to be lifted by the reader. The other convention method of making a flap book creates what is called a “paste-on lift-a-flap book.” For this paste-on flap book, the product is constructed by pasting multiple pieces of white paper board that is coated on both sides onto the leaves of a standard board book. These pasted-on flaps are flaps that have been entirely coated on both sides and stand out and are spaced from the individual leaves or pages of the board book. This requires extensive handwork used to apply the paste-on flaps onto the leaves and the paste-on flaps are less durable than under the traditional die cut flap book.
Conventionally, there are two ways to create the die cut, or flush setting, flap books. The first is to print the books on expensive white board. This requires purchasing white board that is coated on at least one if not both sides. This type of white board is expensive and not necessarily cost effective. The second conventional way to create a flush flap board book is to print the book on grayback board that has been completely coated on both sides. This is more expensive than the grayback paper that has only been coated on one side, but less expensive than the white board paper that has been coated on one side. However, this paper type is not commonly stocked by most paper factories and has a limited use. Therefore, only rarely is the flap board book made with grayback board that has been completely coated on both sides.
What is needed then is a flap board book that is cheaper to make than conventional flush flap board books but yet more durable than the paste on lift-a-flap board books.